UK is still on course for Brexit, despite Supreme Court ruling

The Supreme Court, which is the highest court in the United Kingdom, has said that it must be.

This is not in itself a bad ruling. Britain leaving the European Union is a decision of huge proportions, and the Supreme Court president Lord Neuberger said that such a fundamental change to our laws had to be authorised by Parliament, as was the settled constitutional position going back decades.

This was backed by a large but not quite overwhelming majority of the judges – eight to three.

The problem would come if Parliament decided to thwart the triggering of Article 50, the formal process of leaving the EU.

Whether or not decisions such as leaving the EU are best decided by referendum is a matter for debate. But the fact is that this is how the UK government decided to settle the matter of British membership. David Cameron stood for re-election in 2015 on a manifesto of holding an In-Out referendum on the EU and his Conservative Party won an overall majority.

The referendum happened, and 52% of the nation backed Brexit. It would be an outrage if Parliament blocked that vote.

It seems that triggering Article 50 will indeed be approved by the House of Commons now that Labour has said it will not frustrate the government. Even if it tried to do that, Theresa May can count on at least 10 unionist MPs in any key vote.

The potential obstacle now is the House of Lords. Peers would be very foolish to try to stop the will of the public, and would put their very institution in peril, or in its present form.

Mrs May has made clear that the needs of all parts of the UK will be taken into consideration in Brexit negotiations. However, it would have been ludicrous if we in Northern Ireland (or the Scots or the Welsh) had been able to veto the overall UK decision. Happily the court dismissed such an argument.

The UK is still heading not only for Brexit but for withdrawal from the single market.